Of Masks and Extremes
by Jokermask18
Summary: A tale of two brothers who hold the fate of Republic City in their hands. A possible explanation for Korra's visions and Amon's true origin.
1. Chapter 1

"Of Masks and Extremes"

A "Legend of Korra" fanfic by J.W. Appel.

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Author's Note: My first LOK fic and just a little something in between a big project I'm working on. It basically just combines a whole bunch of theories together and will probably be jossed as early as next week but who cares? Enjoy!

Tarrlok's blood ran cold at Avatar Korra's words. He couldn't be like Amon, not ever! Amon was a fool who believed he could take away that which made people like Tarrlok superior. Bending was a gift to those who deserved power, deserved to rule but Amon foolishly believed in equality for all. At least…that's what Amon claimed to his followers.

Even the Avatar, master of all elements and most powerful bender ever, didn't truly understand what she had, no Avatar ever did. They only cared about keeping balance and protecting the world from so called "villains." People like Chin the Conqueror, the war time Fire Lords and Tarrlok all understood though and Tarrlok understood because he was taught. His father Yakone had made certain of that.

Over Forty years ago, Yakone came to the still new Republic City from the Northern Water Tribe. He was charming and all who met him, including Avatar Aang himself, instantly took a liking to him. Few would have guessed that he was the son of two Water benders captured during the Hundred Year War that had managed to escape and settle in a Fire Nation town. Few would have guessed that he had met an old woman who was like them and had learned a Water bending technique that would allow him to get revenge. Few would have guessed he would be open minded enough to forget women shouldn't fight but heal, and let her teach him.

Yakone himself would never have guessed she would teach another after him and would be betrayed by that same student. He would never guess he would continue her work after her new student left and kill his own parents when they tried stopping him. He would have never thought he would actually stop after Avatar Aang won the war and he married a wonderful girl who gave him two sons only to flee when she found his secret, He never dreamed he would kill her and raise his boys himself.

Tarrlok was one of those boys and he was a water bending prodigy whom Dad taught everything he knew, including blood bending. His twin brother Noma couldn't bend but he made such a nice practice dummy during full moons.

When both boys were twelve, Dad moved them all to Republic City. He was immediately angry that non-benders were treated equally with benders as he had raised his sons on the proper philosophy of bender superiority. Even Noma knew this thanks to regular lectures during his father's beatings and Tarrlok's blood bending practice. Dad decided to do something.

He found water benders like himself and taught them as Hama had taught him, including new lethal water bending techniques he invented himself. One of these was a form of blood bending done under any kind of moon, full or not. Together, they made the first Triad, the Red Monsoons who attacked, murdered and terrorized non-benders every night. Avatar Aang and his group eventually beat them however with aid from the new metal bending police force Toph Bei Fong created.

On the day of his trial, Yakone revealed another new form of Blood bending he developed that could be done during the day, and strike multiple victims at once. Even Avatar Aang who had grown so powerful in adulthood was helpless against it. All seemed lost until Master Katara herself appeared and revealed her own blood bending skill. It was a battle between Hama's pupils that Katara only won because Yakone was interested in testing her again one day.

Yakone escaped but while Katara healed those wounded, her husband pursued. Tarrlok and Noma had sneaked into the city that day while hiding out and waiting for Dad to escape. They heard the roar of a train on the railway and looked up to see Avatar Aang and their dad fighting it out atop the train. Tarrlok cheered for his dad like a good son but Noma stayed silent, too transfixed on the sight.

It seemed like an even match thanks to Yakone's moves but then Avatar Aang entered the Avatar State. Yakone was no match and beaten easily. Rather than kill Yakone however, Avatar Aang instead did as he had with Ozai and permanently removed Yakone's bending. Tarrlok was horrified while Noma looked amazed. A few days later, Tarrlok had learned his dad committed suicide in his cell.

Tarrlok understood. His father couldn't stand the idea of living without power, of being an inferior non-bender for the rest of his days. Noma vanished soon afterwards but Tarrlok didn't care. He was useless anyway.

The one thing that truly shocked Tarrlok was when his dad's killer {for what else could he be?} Avatar Aang himself appeared at the foster home where he was being kept. The man's gray eyes shone with compassion as he kneeled down beside the pre-teen. "Hey there" his deep voice sounded "you must be Tarrlok, am I right? I know you've been through tough times lately but don't worry, everything will be okay."

Tarrlok found himself riding the Avatar's steed, the aging Appa to Air Temple Island where his wife greeted them. Yet another responsible for his father's fate. "Our boy Tenzin is far too studious sometimes" Katara chuckled "with his big sister and big brother away, all he does is study air bending. It will do him good to have a friend his own age."

As it turned out, Tenzin was insufferable. His obsession with keeping his father's dead culture alive and his whining about harmony made Tarrlok's stomach turn. The two never got along even after they both grew up and joined the city council together. But Tarrlok did manage to master his dad's blood bending techniques and he vowed to use his position to wipe out non-benders, by any means necessary. No extreme was too great. That was what Tarrlok told himself as he hauled Avatar Korra away from Republic City forever. And somewhere, he knew Amon felt the same way.

AN: well, one of two chapters completed and the next will reveal Noma's fate. R/R!


	2. Amon

"…Following an abrupt resignation from Councilman Tarrlok's task force and blatant interference with pursuit of escaped Equalists, Avatar Korra has all but vanished. Her team of vigilante coherts, mockingly named 'Team Avatar' has also been taken into custody to await trial. Eyewitness reports say that one member was Asami Sato, daughter of Future Industries founder Hiroshi Sato who…"

Lieutenant turned off the radio and turned to face his leader. His expression was unreadable beneath the mask but of course it always was. "Amon sir now is a perfect time to strike. We can have Sato's Mecha Tanks up and running with a few hours and…" Amon silenced him with a hand.

"We take care of our brothers and sisters first and foremost Lieutenant, you know that. Gather all available and prepare to attack the prison. We'll free them and then, focus all our efforts on finding the Avatar."

"Finding the Avatar!" Lieutenant was shocked to say the least. Amon shot him a look and said "that girl is my enemy and only I will be allowed to defeat her when the time is right. Is that clear?"

For a moment, Lieutenant seemed about to protest, but he knew better than that by now. "Yes sir, I'll get right on it." Amon nodded in approval and said "you are dismissed." Seconds later, he was alone.

The Equalist leader chuckled for a moment as he truly contemplated what he heard. Tarrlok was getting desperate by now, it seemed. He always did whenever he met someone just as set on getting what they wanted. Amon actually did admire Korra for that much. The only person who matched Tarrlok other than her was…him.

Amon could still remember his childhood, not the false childhood of working on a farm and being scarred by a Fire bender that his supporters believed, but his real childhood. A childhood where he was just Noma, a motherless non-bender boy at the mercy of an abusive bender father and a bender twin brother whom daddy favored.

His father Yakone had been a water bender taught by the infamous witch Hama before her capture. He taught his favorite son the art of blood bending and used his non bending son as a target. "You're weak" Amon remembered being told as his body was twisted into every painful way imaginable under a full moon "all non benders are weak worthless trash! They don't belong in this world, not alongside benders, not as equals! They think their new technology makes them strong like us but I'll make sure they remember their place by any means necessary!"

That was the vow Father made when they moved to Republic City. He found others like him and taught them what he knew. He even created new blood bending moves that exceeded the art's limitatations. This gang he formed became the Red Monsoons, the first Triad to menace non-benders. Amon remembered night after night of them going out to rob, kill, and terrorize any who couldn't bend while his brother used him to practice father's new moves. He also remembered cheering when Avatar Aang finally captured Yakone, if only to himself.

On the day of the trial, his brother forced him to come into the city and meet father, whom he was sure, had escaped. Imagine Amen's shock when his brother was not only right but Avatar Sang was fighting their father on the train above them. But none of this compared to when Avatar Sang actually won by removing their father's bending! He had done something that Amon had thought impossible.

Father killed himself in prison a few days later. He couldn't stand the thought of being a non-bender all his life. Amon was placed in a foster home with his brother and as the weeks passed, both made plans. While his brother vowed to one day cleanses the world of inferior non-benders, Amon began his quest for equality. He would wipe out bending before they all became like his family: evil and power hungry. But like his brother, Amon vowed to go to any extreme to achieve his ends. He left the foster home the next day but not before glimpsing Avatar Aang himself, his hero and unknowing savior, arrive on his famed sky bison. He later learned Avatar Aang had come to give his brother a home and the love he needed. Amon wondered if Aang would have saved him too sometimes but it hardly mattered now.

He left Republic City and ventured to Kyoshi Island, home of the Kyoshi Warriors. They now allowed men into their ranks and taught the art of chi-blocking to their warriors as extra defense against bender opponents. Amon asked to be taught as a means of defense in his travels and was accepted. He was even fortunate enough to have Tylee, one of the greatest chi-blockers ever, as his teacher.

He trained for years until he surpassed even Tylee herself in skill and left abruptly to continue his quest. Amon could temporarily disable bending now but it wasn't enough. He wanted to remove it forever like Avatar Aang did. After studying bending secrets for several more years, he decided that only the Spirits could give him what he sought.

It was common knowledge that only Avatars could travel to and from the Spirit World at will but rumors persisted that the legendary General Iroh had journeyed there once by meditating in a certain area. He traveled all over the Earth Kingdom until he found a garden with the White Lotus symbol etched into it and knew he had arrived. He meditated for several days and nights until he finally managed to succeed. It was then that Amon sought out one of the oldest, wisest, amd darkest spirits ever: Koh, the Face Stealer.

Koh agreed to help him in exchange for the death of the coming Avatar, a girl from the Southern Water Tribe named Korra. Koh never liked Water Tribe Avatars. Amon had been hesitant at first. Avatar Aang had been his hero since childhood and the one who inspired his quest. But after Koh showed him scenes of how violent and cruel Korra would be, things changed. "She's nothing like Aang" Koh whispered to him "she'll dominate non-benders like your father did. She will fail humanity and only you can stop her."

His mission clear, Amon accepted. Like the rest of his family, he'd go to any extreme to meet his goals. Koh took his face as his price but gave him another in return: the face of the Hidden. This ancient spirit had been the one who taught humanity chi-blocking and had also been the one to remove energy bending eons ago. Koh had taken his face long ago during an argument and presented it to Amon as a gift. In putting on the face that now served as his mask, Amon truly ceased to be Noma and became the enemy of benders everywhere. Not only were his chi-blocking skills augmented a hundred fold but he could now take away bending forever!

He was sent back to the mortal world and returned to Republic City to begin his mission. New technology had made non-benders even more self-reliant since his childhood and benders felt threatened. Their growing prejudice towards non-benders and the extortions by the Triads his father had inspired made it easy to find supporters. He gathered them from all over and taught them chi-blocking, gave them a way to fight back. When simply striking from the shadows and keeping their existence a secret had run its course, he approached the young Hiroshi Sato who recently lost his wife to the Agni Kais. "Give us weapons so that we may stop these benders from harming innocents" he had said as the man gazed at his sleeping daughter "innocents like our children."

The Kai sticks came first and were given to a martial arts master Amon had made his Lieutenant. Then came the bikes and a dozen other devices Amon's forces had used to turn the tides against all benders. But the Avatar would die by his hand alone and not even his brother would get in his way.

Amon pulled himself from his thoughts and prepared to leave for the prison. He had a mission to complete and he would go to any extreme to do it. Some things just ran in the family.

A/N: Good? Bad? Please R/R and let me know. I enjoyed writing this even though it will probably be jossed in three days. I'm sure what we get will be awesome though. Bryke hasn't let us down yet! Also, I'd like to recommend reading anything by Silver Omega 01 and Masterfirebender84. Those two really know how to write!


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